get a hearing. >> gary hirshberg, chairman of the stoneyfield farm, and chairman of the just label it campaign. thanks for you [ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> jennifer: i'm jennifer granholm, and if you are already counting the minutes until tuesday, he have come to the right place. buckle up you political junkies. it's friday night in "the war room." >> this isn't a date. these are people's jobs. these are people's lives. >> only four days to go until the election and the final push begins. team obama and team romney crisscross the country making their case and trying to pick up every last swing state vote they can. the ground game working around the clock. the air game, in carpet bomb mode. the surrogates, surrogating. two men, four days, and the future of our country at stake. if you're scared, get a dog.

>> jennifer: first things first. let's get you up-to-date from the aftermath of hurricane sandy. today new york city announced it will not hold it's annual marathon after complaints that it would drain resources from emergency responders. one of the biggest problems facing the area has been a major gas shortage with many of the stations that are out of power or out of gas or both. today the federal government turned to the defense department to deliver 24 million gallons of extra fuel, and lift restrictions on deliveries by foreign ships. governor andrew cuomo waved taxes on fuel tangors. in new jersey governor chris christie signed an executive order of gas rationing starting tomorrow.

and 4.37 million homes in the area are still without power. turning now to the presidential campaign that other hot topic where there are just four days before the election, and though next tuesday is the officials election day many voters have already cast ballots. millions! let's take a look at everyone's favorite electoral nightmare florida, where the state took an unprecedented step of cutting early voting time in half. that has meant lines around the block in many polling stations. miami-dade county is averaging more than 26,000 voters per day. there was a four-hour wait to vote today. >> usually it's, you know, five, six, ten people in front of you and this is ridiculous. >> jennifer: so some voting advocates are concerned that the long waits could turn voters off. the president of league of women

voters urged republican governor rick scott to extend early voting. she said such long waits are discouraging to voters whose schedules or physical conditions cannot accommodate these types of delays. well back in 2008 then governor charlie crisp did extend early voting in florida because of the long lines. but at a fundraiser last night governor rick scott said he would not follow suit. mike grissom the executive director explained it this way. for one side to demand that we break the law because they feel like they are losing is wrong. what? by ensuring that all voters get to cast ballots? why on earth would a republican governor want to decrease early voting? well, it could be because the democrats aren't losing, they're

actually kicking butt in early voting. according to an internal obama campaign document today that is exactly the case. here's what that document reveal reveals. in florida over a third of expected voters have already voted. as you can see early voters 50% voting for president obama. obama, 44% for mitt romney. election day that means mitt romney has to get 53% of the vote in florida if he's going to win. so that is a pretty hefty tag to run up. that's all according to the obama campaign. in iowa over a third of voters have already voted there. and among those early voters, you can see 64% of those are supporting barack obama. 35% of them are supporting mitt romney.

and that means that mitt romney is going to need to win 59% of election-day voters. in north carolina, nearly half of all ballots have already been cast. and of those who have already been cast, 58% of those early voters favor the president. 41% of those favor mitt romney. so mitt romney is going to need to win 57% of north carolina on election day. we're seeing that pattern play out in the other swing states, too like nevada, virginia, wisconsin. so the republicans are trying to make up ground. in florida we're seeing this because republican leaders are on a two-day bus tour promoting early voting. here is romney florida campaign chairman adam putnam. >> we want to drive people to the polls in every conceivable form. we want oh to be there on

tuesday and early votes and we want to open that gap back up. >> jennifer: but if it doesn't work, the romney campaign might have a backup plan of playing dirty. for voters who show up without a photo i.d. even though there is no photo i.d. law in iowa nevertheless they're showing poll watchers this training video. >> first, there may be an incidence where the voter fails to show voter i.d. and they are still allowed to vote. use the alert button so they can handle problems and they can get back to helping voters. >> jennifer: if you can't beat them join them. this is scary stuff and it's also a sign that they're getting desperate. for a perspective of early voting and last-minute polling tricks i'm here with the political writer of the dallas reporting news coming to us

from austin. wayne, thanks so much for being back inside "the war room"." >> great to be with you governor. >> jennifer: you have written about poll workers in texas, as a matter of fact, asking to see photo i.d.s even though there is no i.d. law there. what did you observe? >> well, you're right. i've been on the road in colorado ohio, but i came home to vote. i did early voting in my precinct which is north of austin, a conservative republican county. when i went in, i intentionally because i wanted to see what the poll workers were doing brought one of several legally prescribed identifications under the texas law and that's my city issued utility bill. i walked in, gave that utility bill to the supervisor, who asked me for my photo i.d. i said, this is what i'm giving you. she said, i prefer the photo

i.d. the driver's license, or your certification of voting. i said, are you telling me that i can't vote with this? at which point let me say there was a back and forth process very low key but a back and forth process in which another supervisor had to come and point out to this one supervisor, no, this is okay. this is one of the legal required documents. and it raised questions to me. look i'm sitting there talking to this person, who is mistyped my name and said i wasn't in the computer, although i was ultimately i was able to vote. i'm a person who knows what the law is, but you have to wonder what if i had been an elderly person, a person whose language--first language is spanish instead of english would i have been turned away? i think i would have been. >> jennifer: yeah, that's really the concern.

you're in texas. you know, that's not even a swing state, and you're being asked that. do you think the woman was trained to push back on you? or was that just the type of person? >> i think it was not just the type of person. whether she was specifically trained in the way you just said, some of the materials suggested in other states, i don't know. what i do know is that republicans and conservatives have been beating the drum here and elsewhere for a couple of years about photo i.d. requiring a photo i.d. it becomes a kind of measure of state of art, a turn of art, a requirement in the minds of people even if it's not in the law. so i think in this case this poll worker, who was a republican, i late learned i think felt it was important that people show a photo i.d. whether it's legal or not. the question here is whether there are a lot of those poll

workers all over the country. i have a feeling that there are. >> jennifer: so you've traveled to--you've been to colorado, nevada iowa as well, you have been following this story in other states? >> i have. and you know, you hear anecdote anecdotally that someone says this and someone says that, and it's hard to see a type of pattern developing in these states, especially during these early vote time. i talked to congressman charlie gonzalez of texas, head of the congressional hispanic caucus. he asked the secretary of state and the attorney general to make sure poll workers in texas know what the law is. basically what he told me is that he's hearing about this all over the country. his fear is that it will really manifest itself is on election day. >> jennifer: that's why they're hauling out on both sides lawyers to be able to protect

people. we want to encourage people who are watching this show, if you are going to vote, i would suggest people take a camera with a videorecorder if you're intimidated we want to know about that, that is just not right. wayne, we really appreciate you sharing that story with us. i want to talk about a whole bunch of other stuff but we have to move. i appreciate you coming inside "the war room" on a friday night. wayne slater, political reporter with the dallas morning news. coming up, the aftermath developments of the hurricane sandy. we'll go right to the issue about whether this is a critical time for action on climate change. we're going to discuss that with global economist jeffrey sachs coming up. plus today's job report was one of the last numbers report before the election. we'll look at those numbers and see how they were received on the campaign trail. and after the break the crown jewel who must have the

good morning ladies and gentlemen, i'm captain whitaker. >> there's 102 souls on board. >> let's get em' tucked in we're ready to push. >> current tv knows there are two sides to every story. >> i have no control on my side! >> this is south jet 227, we are in a dive! here we go! brace for impact! >> you saved a lot of lives. > he was very worried. >> looks like a cool character. >> he reminds you of. >> sully. >> the guy who landed the plane in the hudson. >> he has to be a hero. >> he definitely a hero, yea. >> now, what if you heard the other side of the story? >> i had a couple beers the night before the flight. >> you had alcohol in your system. that could be life in prison. >> are you hiding something? >> well, there's a darker side to this guy. >> makes it a lot more complicated. >> there's more depth there. >> he's not god himself. >> so it makes it much more interesting. >> you saved my mom. >> it's much more intriguing now. >> while there are two sides to every story...

>> it's a lie. ... in the end, there's only one truth. >> flight. only in theaters november 2nd.

bomb >> obama: we've come too far togrow faint hearted. thousand the time to keep pushing. >> jennifer: that's president obama presenting his closing argument at a rally in spspngngel o oo.o. thee p psint won ohio's 18 electoral college votes in 2008 and he's looking for a repeat. according to a new poll from cnn, president obama is three points ahead of governor romney among likely voters, 50%-47%. the same survey shows president obama winning women there by 16 points and lower income voters by 30 points. now governor romney on the other hand leads with men by 13 points. he has an advantage of six points with people making more than $50,000 a year.

the other fresh ohio poll from the conservative-leaning rasmussen has president obama and governor romney tied. we'll go to cleveland and henry gomez. welcome inside the watch "the war room." >> thanks for having me. >> jennifer: you're welcome. who has the advantage, president obama or governor romney. >> you have to give it to president obama virtue of the fact that he won here four years ago, and his organizers never left the state. they were heavily involved last year about an issue to repeal collective bargaining restrictions that the republicans placed into law. >> jennifer: are you guys getting tired of seeing these candidates there every single day, several times a day? >> they're everywhere. as you mentioned the president had three events here today. mitt romney and paul ryan, i think just finished up an event

down state in cincinnati, where there were huge crowd from what i'm told. tomorrow we're going to have a president here up here in the cleveland area, romney is back on sunday. paul ryan is here all weekend. and then on monday both campaigns are going to finish out the ohio phase of their efforts down in columbus, with live music and all the trimmings. yes, they're never going to come and visit us again when this is all over. >> jennifer: i don't know about ever, you guys are the bell of the ball. you have to be glowing in all of this attention. obviously another thing that is not getting much attention but you know, we have been focused on super storm sandy causing damage obviously on the eastern seaboard but i'm told it also caused damage in the ohio. what is the assessment of the damage there? >> the electricity is still out in pockets of northern ohio, the

cleveland area. i was checking earlier and there are 40,000 to 50,000 homes. my power just went on last night. and the cleveland proper still doesn't have lights. they're hoping to have all this resolved on monday. but there is concern about polling stations on tuesday. >> jennifer: hopefully everybody is up on tuesday. i'm sure the campaigns are looking at that, but i'm sure people are too given how much attention ohio has had in this election. there has been this early voting surge for. president obama has captured 59% of early vote. do you have a sense of that on the ground? >> well, here here where it's overwhelmingly democratic, yes

we have the sense that it's doing well. every public poll shows the president leading mitt romney by a substantial margin in the early vote. one thing that i will say about the romney campaign, the republicans more in general they learned from their mistakes four years ago. they've been out since may you know gathering data, trying to connect with people. they boast their door-knocking operation although it's hard to quantify how many doors you've actually knocked on. they say they've knocked on over 1 million to 2 million doors in this cycle. it will be interesting to see what the final tally. it's important to note that this weekend you can go and vote in person at the board of elections. this is something that the democrats, the obama campaign fought for heavily. they sued the state of ohio to reopen this window that was available in 2008. it was closed last year, and now it's back open, you're seeing a lot of activity surrounding a lot of local churches labor

groups driving people to vote in person. >> jennifer: we're also watching the backlash from the jeep ad which the cleveland dealer was admonishing governor romney about. that's henry gomez from the cleveland. the president won the rocky mountain state in 2008. but tonight colorado is essentially tied according to the new ritter's poll. it has them neck and neck. the president leads with women not surprisingly by ten points but romney only leads by men by three points. the poll has even better news for president obama. it gives him 50% to mitt

romney's 46%. when it comes to early voting, this is amazing. 60% of coloradoans have already cast their ballots. they estimate of those early voters president obama has captured 51% of the vote to mitt romney's 43%. so for the latest on the ground from colorado, we're going to go to denver, and "the war room"'s" own sheetal l dhir. she's on assignment there in denver. sheetal, thanks for joining us. >> hi. >> jennifer: tell us a little bit what you're seeing on the ground. first of all how important is colorado to the obama and romney campaigns, can you tell from being there? >> yes absolutely. you can tell that both the obama and romney campaigns are just pouring money into this state. every time you turn on the radio, you hear one of their voices. every time you turn on a

television, there is an ad. it's insane. there are signs everywhere, and people are energic and excited about the campaigns. >> jennifer: are the folks that you're meeting are they aware of how special they are how vital their votes are and that their votes count for thousands of others? >> in south colorado, you can tell representative gutierrez said look, obama sent me here for a reason. he didn't send me here to talk and hang out but because you're going to determine the outcome of this campaign, and colorado voters know that. >> jennifer: do you have a sense right now that they feel a difference in the president in in 2008? >> from the voters that i talked to it seems that their problem is not necessarily with problem. it's more about washington and how polarized the politics are. people are sick of the stalemate and they're ready to move on and hoping for change in the next four years 12,347 how optimistic

is team obama that they can carry the day. >> it's insane. i'm at a field office, and people are pumped. i was in aurora, colorado, and i saw a nine-year-old making phone calls for the obama campaign. young, old white black everyone is super pumped to be here. they know they're going to win out, and so it's really exciting. >> jennifer: that is great. thank you so much for giving us a little bit of the flavor on the ground. we look forward to welcoming inside "the war room." that's "the war room's" own sheetal dihr. the destruction that was caused by hurricane sandy will happen again and again and again unless we do something to combat climate change. dr. jeffrey sachs will be my guest and you'llllllllllllllllllllllllllllll (vo) this election, there's a new sheriff in town, and she's going to cut through the noise. wanda sykes will be keeping it simple, boiling it down, shaving

the head of this beast ... >> ah, shut your yap! (vo) oh. >> hey. watch the show. i'll have experts make sense of [bleep] so you can vote smart. (vo) it's an all new election special. (vo) wanda sykes. breaking the election down like a >> shut up! i look at her, and i just want to give her everything. yeah you -- you know, everything can cost upwards of...[ whistles ] i did not want to think about that. relax, relax, relax. look at me, look at me. three words, dad -- e-trade financial consultants. so i can just go talk to 'em? just walk right in and talk to 'em. dude those guys are pros. they'll hook you up with a solid plan. they'll -- wa-- wa-- wait a minute. bobby? bobby! what are you doing, man? i'm speed dating! [ male announcer ] get investing advice for your family at e-trade. [ female announcer ] pillsbury crescents fabulous but...when i add chicken barbecue

sauce... and cheese...and roll it up woo-wee! i've made a barbecue chicken crescent chow down. pillsbury crescents. let the making begin. [ female announcer ] why settle for plain bread? here's a better idea. pillsbury grands! flaky layers biscuits in just 15 minutes the light delicate layers add a layer of warmth to your next dinner. pillsbury grands biscuits let the making begin.

>> jennifer: the economic toll from hurricane sandy is still mounding and today the new york comptroller estimated the economic losses of $15 billion to $18 billion in new york state alone. it's part of a largeer pattern. according to the noah, over the past several years 133 climate disasters have cost this country over $875 billion. that's not even including hurricane sandy's open tab.

so joining me now via skype i'm so pleased dr. jeffrey sachs. he comes to us tonight from new york. dr. sachs. so nice to have you back inside "the war room." >> thank you very much. great to be with you. >> jennifer: for almost a decade scientists including nasa has warned about the danger that hurricanes pose because of climate change. do you think sandy will compel someone to take action on climate? >> isn't it amazing that this whole presidential campaign climate has hardly shown up at all. >> jennifer: yes. >> until this disaster. it shows how radically skewed our politics really are from the realities that we faced. i already found it so odd in the debates when energy policy was discussed, which was obviously linked deeply to climate because

it is energy that is the main source, the way we use it, the fossil fuels, the way we use it is the main source of climate change even then neither candidate took the opportunity to explain these realities. so our political system has been broken for a while. the american public is realizing, of course, what the scientist versus long known. but now that we feel week by week month by month that the climate is changing and it's changing dangerously even before hurricane sandy, we were already in a period that was record warm for the united states, record drought in modern decades. that had not shaken the case. my answer is i hope so, but the political system has been pretty impervious to this up to now. >> jennifer: i think we should call for a new manhattan

project, a national energy plan. i would be curious to know, if you had to say the top three things that should be in the national energy plan, briefly what would it include. >> i'll put in one we need to move to a low carbon energy system. relying far more on solar power and wind power. we have that in the united states. study after study is showing if we tap our energy resources our renewable energy resources we can dramatically improve the energy system, reduce the carbon content, make it safer. this is what the whole world needs to do. the united states has the technology and the resource base to make it work, and to make it possible. >> jennifer: we can finally lead, we can finally lead rather than being the laughing stock of the global community for burying our heads in the sand. the cost of these natural

disasters is escalating by the billions. do you think in decision to a planetary global warming argument there is an argument that might work where the suffering and scientific haven't. >> it matters because it undermines our quality and safety of life, including wrecking the economy. so this has been one of the core reasons for decades actually that the call has been to make the energy system safe because it's going to save us from a lot of disasters. there is not really a difference between the climate change idea, the motivation, and the economic cost as a motivation. they really are the same. we are reckless in how we are unwilling right now through our politics because the public is willing, not just the political

system to make modest investments to avert huge, huge damages like the one this week. >> jennifer: absolutely. cheveron, for example, reported profits of $19 billion for just the first nine months of this year. and yet congressional republicans continue to protect cheveron's $700 million tax breaks, and no surprise last year cheveron made the largest single corporate donation since citizens united, $2.5 million to the super pacs for republicans. how can we when there is that kind of money effecting the legislature. >> the republican party is the party of big oil. people need to understand that, and how incredibly dangerous that is. because if big oil determines our future, we are wrecked. this is basically the problem.

it's been the problem for a long time. politicians like president obama who know what is happening absolutely and tries to do something about it, let's be clear, also had feared the huge money coming in from the koch industry the private oil company of the koch brothers, and other big oil influences. so i think if we can help people to understand what is really going on, how one of our political parties is basically the party of big oil and that this has been a huge source of the inability to move forward in a sensible way the public is feeling it. all of the evidence is that people want to live in a safer smarter way than the way we're living and going right now. and it's going to get worse that's for sure unless it

changes course. >> jennifer: they have their billionaires. the koch brothers. we now have a billion billionaire, which is michael bloomberg. maybe we can get something done. dr. jeff every. thank you. >> jennifer: we'll break down the numbers for america's improving economy. you're in "the war room" in america's

>> the same path we're on means 20 trillion-dollar in debt in four years. it means crippling unemployment continues. it means stagnant take home pay depressed home values, and a devastated military. and unless we change course we may well be looking at another recession. >> jennifer: hmm, that's mitt romney reacting to today's jobs report. i'm just wondering if he read

the same report that i did. according to the bureau of labor statistics employers added more than 170,000 jobs last month and including in shah thanksgiving is a 30,000 jump in manufacturing, and 84 more 84,000 more positions than previously thought. with me, previous chairman of president obama council of economic advisers, and mark zandi, from moody's analytic, welcome inside "the war room." >> great to see you again governor. >> jennifer: can you explain why the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9 when the economy did add more than 170,000 new jobs. >> it's largely because the labor force increased very

significantly. we saw an increase in employment but the labor force increased more. those who stepped out of the labor force stepped back in. some are unemployed and looking for work, so the unemployment rate kicked up. i take solace in the job gain. it was strong. and the increase, both those things are good things. obviously i would like to see unemployment move lower more quicklyish but these numbers were pretty good. >> jennifer: austin, let me ask you about that, how many jobs do we need to create every month to make a real dent in the monthly unemployment number. >> rule of thumb you need 120,000-125,000 a month to keep up with population. if you have a sustained 175,000 per month for a long time you had unemployment rate will come

down. you would like the growth rate of the economy could come up faster than it has been. when you get that, then you get numbers in the 200,000 and above. what we've seen is that at times when that happened in the economy, the unemployment rate could drop pretty significantly inin a shorter period. >> jennifer: we saw a significant expansion of people jumping into the workforce or at least trying to, 500,000 or something like that. doesn't that--is that an indication and i'll ask that to you, austin that people are more confident that they'll find jobs, is that a good thing? >> yes, it's ironic the republicans have been saying in some of the months that the unemployment rate went down but there was a drop in the labor force, o look, that's a bad sign. now the reverse happened. it ticking up in a small amount and a lot of people entered the workforce, which is a sign of

hope, and then they just look and say the rate went up. >> jennifer: i didn't hear jack real much complain about the numbers this month. corporations are sitting on 2 trillion-dollar in idle cash, you would think they would do more to hire but they're not. what is holding them back? >> i think it's concern about the fiscal issues, the fiscal cliff. s tax increases spending cuts coming under current law. the treasury department debt ceiling that's going to be a problem early next year and how are we going to address our long-term deficit problems and how are we going to get them down sufficiently that they stable the gde debt ratio. until congress nails this down more clearly businesses are going to be reluctant to go out and hire more aggressively. layoffs are low but they're going--they're not going to hire aggressively. that's what we need to get to

austin's 250 k per month. >> jennifer: once the election is over, and it's settled who will be leading our nation, they cut some deal in congress beaver the fiscal cliff then you think you'll start to see greater jobs numbers every month? >> yes it's confidence. >> jennifer: yes, so austin, let me ask you we just learned that the congressional republicans pressured the nonpartisan research service to withdraw a report that reached some conclusions about what works to stimulate economic growth. what is in that report? why are they so scared? >> well, because the report--i know the report well. the report says how much do high-income tax rates matter for the growth rate in the country? and the answer, which they found, which should be obvious to anyone who would sit down and at the data cut high income tax rates does no generate growth in

the country. it's not jack's magic bean talk bean. it didn't create growth when george bush did it, and the report went through statistics of many decades of data that would verify what anybody would know if they looked at it. >> jennifer: somebody called it the banana republic, that they were pressured to sit on the report. do you think there is some political shenanigans happening? the nonpartisan folks won't release the report? >> well, the way i heard it was that some of the republican congressional leadership rejected to the regression methodology. so i'm not sure about that. i think it probably was not what they considered the oppertune

moment, i feel that's why they pull it down. >> jennifer: i'm shocked. i'm sure you are, too. gentlemen, thank you some for coming inside "the war room." this is the most important last data point before the election. up next, if president obama wins the electoral vote but loses the national vote, are we going to be celebrating tuesday the one time it's okay for you to miss my show is if that's the only time you can get to a polling place. make sure that voting is your highest priority on election day. besides, you can always dvr my show. you really cant' dvr the future of the country. to help you make informed decisions, watch current tv's politically direct lineup.

only on current tv. so vote and vote smart.

[ ♪ theme music ♪ ] >> jennifer: do you know that president obama could become the fifth member of an exclusive club? presidents who lost the popular vote but went on to win the presidency. john quincy adams rutherford b. hayes, benjamin harrison, and george w. bush. look at what "the war room" researchers found looking at the 2008 presidential election. in wyoming there were 240,000 voters for its three electoral voters. 240,000 for its three electoral. that's about 83,000 voters per electoral votes. in california there were

12 million voters for its 55 electoral votes. do you know what that breaks down to, 220,000 voters per electoral vote. is anyone wondering why wyoming voters are three times as important as california voters? well that's a good question. joining us now is a woman who wants to fix this unfair balance in the electoral college system. laura brode with an organization known as national popular vote. it works to have the president elected by popular vote. welcome to "the war room"." >> thanks so much for having me. >> jennifer: so you're republican, i think and your party's platform includes this stance on electoral college reform. we recognize that an unconstitutional effort to impose national popular vote would be a mortal threat to our federal system and guarantee of

corruption as every ballot box in every state would become a chance to steal the presidency. do you think that republicans would change their tune if president obama was re-elected without the popular vote? >> look, there is a very strong movement across this country toward a national popular vote legislation which would guarantee the presidency to the candidate who wins the most votes in all 50 states, and do so through a state-based plan. when you think about what is the problem with this country, it's the winner take all rules that we see which has led to four out of five americans being effectively irrelevant in one of in the most important election in the free world. whether you're a republican, whether you're a democrat an independent or somewhere in between, americans are saying why are we effectively electing the president in the

battleground states and, and the national popular vote is a way to fix that problem of winner take all rules and do it through state legislation which by the way utilizes a state power in the constitution article 2 section 1. >> jennifer: let me run through one of the scenarios that has been problematic with the electoral college. they have focused their time, money and energy campaigning in these swing states. if we move to change to a popular vote, wouldn't that spread them awfully thin? >> it would spread them out to force them to campaign, and to seek the opinions and seek the votes of all the people of this country. whereas right now they're so focused, all their time, attention and dollars are focused in turning out the vote and getting out the vote and changing minds in very small parts of this country. nine states in this country are determining the presidency because the rest of the states

are reliably red or relyiably blue. we should have candidates who seek the vote of all the voters in every state so it counts equally. >> jennifer: i would love for you to describe the process. how would it work. >> what we see are state legislatures are passing laws, and nine states have joined an interstate compact where they agree to win letter electors to the candidate who wins the votes of all 50 states. when enough states join this compact, it takes enough states joining it equally 270 electoral votes. interestingly that's what it takes to elect the president. it's a simple state law. they're changing their current winner take all rules to a national popular vote and ute

utilizing their state power to make sure the citizens in their state are relevant to the campaigns and elections and that their counts equally. >> jennifer: wouldn't you have to get all 50 states to agree. >> no, you need just enough states to join the compact to equal the 270 electoral votes. it's important to know that at that point when the compact triggers into effect each state who has joined the compact agree to join their state of electors to all 50 states. they're not just awarding their electors on who joins the compact. it's based on the national popular vote. >> jennifer: fascinating stuff laura brad. thank you so much to join us in the war room to explain that maybe it's a possibility. up next before we spend the next four days gritting our teeth we're going to send you into the weekend with a little bit of a laugh. this is the war room, and it's onlylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylylyly

uh, i'm in a timeout because apparently riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks... wait, why are you taking... oh, i see...solitary. just a man and his thoughts. and a smartphone... with an e-trade app. ♪ nobody knows... ♪ [ male announcer ] e-trade. investing unleashed.

[ ♪ music ♪ ] >> read my lips. [ ♪ music ♪ ] >> jennifer: politicians have had a long and offense often tortured relationship with humor. we tryry. we really do. it's just that it does not always work out the way we want it to, which is why when we want a guaranteed laugh it pays to have a political ad made by professional funny people. that's the focus of part five in our series on the selling of the presidents. current tv has the report. >> in his 2010 campaign, colorado governor john hickenlooper won this attention-getting ad. >> i'm john hickenlooper. i'm not a very good politician because i can't stand negative ads. every time i see one i feel like i need to take a shower. >> a political ad that makes

people laugh can be just as powerful as an attack an ad. the first to discover that is lyndon johnson. johnson pokes fun of goldwater who said that the east coast should be sawed often to get rid of liberals. >> the visual image matched the ad and that makes for a very effective ad. >> sarcasm reached new heights for this groundbreaking ad for hubert humphrey. [ laughing ] >> in 1968 democrats ran an ad making fun of the fact that nixon put this little known governor agnew on the ticket as vice presidential nominee. >> the only sound was laughing until the end. [ coughing ] >> the ad range true when agnew became the only vice president

in history to resign because of real charge. but these days most of the campaign comedy is found in independent ads on the internet. >> i'm asking you to vice schlep over to florida and tell them to vote. it can make a difference. you can compare an elderly usual woman like nana to a young black man. they both say yo all the time or jews go right to left, oiy. >> but sometimes an official campaign ad is funny even when it's not meant to be. >> we can do this. we can take this country back. >> when an ad is funny by mistake, the candidate could just vanish like a puff of smoke. >> jennifer: thanks for joining